It's Just A Game
by Little Jackie Papercut
Summary: Albel is a sore loser.  A really sore loser.  Which, usually, is a bad thing.  This is not an exception.  Rated T for safety.


Ah, the eternal copyright… Square-Enix owns Star Ocean. I don't. Sucks to be me.

Remember Paracelsus' Table? It seems Fayt loves to play with it, and he's got skillz, but unfortunately for him, Albel is a sore loser. Watch out, Fayt, try not to boast too much…

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"Looks like I won this round."

Fayt grinned down at the table, examining Albel's fallen figure. "That makes 497 wins in a row," commented Mirage. "Fayt has now defeated everyone in town."

"I wanna play next!" called Peppita. Roger groaned and shook his head. "You just played against Fayt, three times in a row. He beat you all three times," he reminded her. As soon as the words had left his mouth, she rounded on him. "Alright then, how about I play YOU, huh?" she said, glaring at him.

Fayt chuckled at this exchange. "You two go ahead, I'm getting tired of winning," he announced, and started to leave. Before he was out, though, Albel, who had been staring in disbelief at the results of the game, stood. "What? You're going to leave, just like that? I want a rematch! Come back here and face me, worm!" he called, clearly not satisfied. When Fayt didn't acknowledge this, Albel smirked. "I get it. You're chicken." Hearing this, Fayt stopped in his tracks and turned to face the terrifying man.

"What did you just say to me, Albel?"

"You heard me. You're afraid to face me again because you know I almost won last time, and if I beat you, then your winning streak goes out the window," he said.

Fayt returned to his place at the table, an unreadable expression crossing his face. "If that's the way it's going to be, give me your best shot," he said, focusing hard on the game.

"Aw, man, now I'm never gonna get to play," whined Peppita.

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Ten Hours Later…

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Fayt entered the inn well after midnight to find the others waiting for him. "How did it go?" asked Sophia, noticing that Albel wasn't with him.

"Well, he just kept asking for rematches, until finally he just sort of passed out in the middle of a match," he replied. "Welch said she'd take care of him, he should be by later."

This statement worried Nel. "Are you sure we can trust Welch to look after Albel, conscious or otherwise? She's not completely there, you know."

"Of course we can," Fayt replied. "It's not like she's going to do something crazy to him…"

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Back at the Guild…

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"Oh Albel, we're going to have a lot of fun," Welch said to the unconscious Albel after locking the door. She crouched next to him and began to rub his leg…

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Back at the Inn…

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"I guess you're right," Nel said.

"I'm more worried about what Albel's going to do," Cliff added. "You know how he is. He won't take this lying down."

Fayt shrugged. "I'm not worried. I'm sure in the morning he'll have forgotten the whole thing."

"Whatever you say. By the way, do you have anything we can bury you in?"

Whatever Fayt was about to say, he was cut off when Albel walked in. The swordsman glared at them all. "Would someone mind explaining to me why I just woke up in the Inventors' Guild with Welch sitting naked on my chest?" Maria and Cliff both stifled a laugh at this, and Sophia's eyes nearly popped out of her head. Fayt couldn't think of anything to say for a moment, but managed an "I have no idea" before Albel shook his head and continued to his room.

"I told you it was a bad idea to leave him there," Nel said matter-of-factly. Although Fayt was getting nervous now, he simply repeated, "He'll forget about it by morning."

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In the Morning…

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Albel had not forgotten about the previous day. In fact, he had spent the entire night thinking about it, and now not only was he furious over Fayt's victory, he was also rather tired and irritable. And remember, this is Albel. Irritable to Albel is nuclear to anyone else.

"What did you say, you brainless ape?"

Every head in the tavern turned to see the spectacle. Albel, his breakfast forgotten, had raised his clawed hand to Cliff's throat as soon as he entered the room. Cliff looked absolutely dumbfounded. "Uh… I said, 'good morning, Albel'," he repeated.

Albel faltered for a moment, then removed his claw from Cliff's throat. "That's what I thought," he said weakly, then sat back down and continued eating. Roger gave them a funny look, then shrugged and ignored the scene. Nel just shook her head and walked out. Sophia nudged Fayt in the ribs, trying to indicate that he should probably follow Nel, but the boy didn't seem to notice. He moved his chair back as far as he could and tried to finish his meal, with Albel now glaring daggers at him.

Cliff glanced at Mirage, and she nodded. "Hey, so Albel, how about we all go see that museum on the north end of town?" he said, as cheerfully as he could. Albel just looked at him like he had lost whatever mind he had. "Zelpher showed me that museum yesterday," he said. "I didn't like it then and I won't like it now."

"Ah, come on now, art's good for the soul!"

"I thought you were an atheist," Fayt chimed in, and now it was Mirage who gave him a nudge.

"I'm telling you for the last time, I'm not interested," Albel said, ignoring Fayt's comment.

Mirage leaned across the table to look Albel in the eye. "Come on, isn't there any way you'd be interested?" she asked.

"There is absolutely, positively no way I'll go…"

At this point Nel returned. "Hey, I'm ready to go to the museum now," she said.

"Without a promise that we'll see every exhibit this time," Albel concluded quickly. Roger blinked at this. "Hey, but you said…"

Before he could finish, Sophia had silenced him with one hand over his mouth. "You go ahead and have fun!" she said rather loudly, fighting to keep Roger quiet.

Nel gave them all a confused look, but accepted it, and left, with Cliff, Mirage, and Albel following her. Albel paused to glare at Fayt one last time.

"I thought he'd never leave," Fayt sighed with relief.

"Well, he's gone now!" Adray replied. "And that means we can spend the whole day…"

Adray paused and looked around. Nobody was there.

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At the Museum…

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Albel was cursing himself for having come here at all. At least he was away from that insolent worm, Fayt.

The thought of the previous day, the humiliating defeat, made his blood boil. And looking at these ridiculous paintings wasn't helping. Idly, he approached Cliff, who jumped slightly and edged away.

Nel noticed the look on Albel's face, which seemed to indicate that he was preparing to do something everyone was going to regret. Alarmed, she whispered something to Mirage, and both moved to intercept him before disaster struck.

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In Town…

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"Hey, what's that over there?"

Fayt was starting to get a headache. Peppita was being her usual hyperactive self, and Roger was only marginally better. It took the combined efforts of Fayt, Sophia, and Maria to keep the two in check as they raced all around town, apparently intent on destroying something. Finally, Fayt decided something had to be done, before the entire town was in ruins.

"Peppita! Roger! How would you like something sweet?"

Fayt was sure a snack would calm the two children down. Sophia reached into her bag and pulled out some candy…

Unfortunately, what all three of them had forgotten was that sugar and Peppita don't mix, and Roger isn't much better. One chocolate treat later, they had true chaos on their hands.

"Take cover!" Fayt called out as Roger hurtled toward a group of innocent bystanders. At the last moment, Maria managed to catch him. "I'll take Roger back to the inn, you two handle Peppita," she said, and hurried off.

It took a moment to find Peppita. Sophia was the first to spot her. "Up there!" she said, pointing to the top of a shop nearby. Fayt rushed to the rescue and managed to retrieve her before she fell.

"That was close," Sophia commented as Fayt returned, and the two worked together to restrain the deranged girl. And at that moment, they heard a yell from behind them.

"Comin' through!" shouted Cliff as he passed close by them, so fast that a street vendor nearly lost half his wares. The two exchanged a nervous glance, then turned and stared in horror.

Albel was right behind Cliff, yelling, "Come back here, you overgrown maggot!" Fayt jumped out of the way, but there was really no need, as Albel was so focused on inflicting some form of injury on Cliff at that moment that he didn't even notice that Fayt was there.

"I wonder what that could have been about," Sophia mused. Before they had time to properly consider it, they were nearly knocked over by Mirage and Nel, the former looking panicked and the latter actually laughing about whatever was going on.

Fayt watched until they were out of sight. "Right now I'm not sure we want to know," he said.

Most of the rest of the day was spent avoiding the inn, the Inventor's Guild, the tavern, and anywhere else Albel might find him. He knew disaster was brewing, and he could only hope to put it off a while. Finally, he had to return to the inn. He needed to sleep.

When Fayt entered his room, he realized someone was already there. "Hello? Who's there?" he inquired to the darkness. A low, growling voice responded, "You know very well who."

Fayt turned to run, but before he could open the door a katana was plunged into the thick wood. The blade now rested against his ear. "What do you want, Albel?" he asked, abject terror now flooding him.

"Want? I want another chance to even up the score. What do you think, is that agreeable?"

Fayt gave a stiff nod. "Alright," he said. "First thing tomorrow morning. We'll settle it then."

A grin crossed Albel's face. "Very well," he said. "Make sure you come prepared." And with that he left.

Fayt sank onto his bed, still trying to get over the shock. Suddenly it occurred to him that Cliff, who ordinarily shared a room with him, was not there.

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On the Roof…

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"Hello?" Cliff called down to the street below. "Can somebody get me down from here? Anybody?" He struggled with the ropes, but it was useless, and only hurt his bare skin.

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Back in Fayt's Room…

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Finally Fayt decided that the girls wouldn't let Albel kill Cliff, and he'd probably find out what had happened in the morning.

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In the Morning…

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Fayt joined the others in front of the inn. Or rather… some of the others. Cliff, Albel, and Adray didn't seem to be present.

"Uh, hey guys, what's up?" he asked tentatively. Nel quickly began to explain. "We're planning to leave town before Adray wakes up, but we can't leave until Cliff and Albel are ready… what's taking them so long, anyway?"

Fayt thought about it for a minute, wondering if it had something to do with Albel nearly impaling him the previous night. "I'm going to go look for them," Nel continued, and went back inside.

There was a long silence, and when Nel finally returned she had Cliff with her. The two were discussing something.

"What were you doing up there, anyway?"

"Well, let's just say our friend decided to finish what he started."

Fayt was completely nonplussed by all this. "What happened, exactly?"

"That psycho Albel tied me up and left me on the roof all night. Not before he stole my clothes, though, and let me tell you, it was COLD last night."

"Well, where is he now?" Fayt asked.

"Ah, I saw him heading north, toward Aquios."

"Guess we'd better go, then." Fayt immediately started after Albel, while everyone else hesitated a moment before following.

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Minutes Later…

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"It's about time, maggots," called Albel. He drew his sword and pointed at Fayt with his clawed hand. "Now let's finish this."

Fayt stepped forward, drawing his own sword. "Are you sure you want to do this, Albel? I mean, it was just a game…"

"I think you're both missing the point," Nel stated. "We don't have time for this, or have you forgotten…"

"Yes!" both Fayt and Albel interrupted simultaneously, charging at each other and swinging their respective blades.

The others watched, bored, as they struck at one another time after time.

"Jeez, are my fights with Lucien this boring?" Roger pondered.

"They're both such sore losers…" Mirage observed.

"Kick his ass, Fayt!" Cliff yelled.

"Why does it always have to be like this?" Sophia whispered.

"I'm bored," Peppita whined.

"It's a miracle they haven't killed each other yet," Maria muttered

"We REALLY need to go!" Nel reiterated.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Adray asked.

Fayt and Albel both froze. Everyone stared in horror for a moment as Adray stepped forward to see what was going on. The two combatants looked at each other.

"Truce?" said Fayt.

"Truce," agreed Albel.

As the two advanced on Adray, he looked confused. "Uh… what's going on here? What are you going to…"

The others had stopped complaining by now, and Sophia passed out some snacks (making sure to give Roger and Peppita sugar free treats this time). And a grand time was had by all.

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